Center News
NYCC Holds Seminar about Preparing and Retaining Teachers for High Need Schools
This was the third in a series of interactive seminars organized by the New York Comprehensive Center (NYCC) with assistance from the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality. The seminar brought together the major stakeholders involved in teacher education in and around New York City. Participants included deans and program heads from 20 teacher preparation institutions, key representatives from the New York City Department of Education, and senior leadership staff from the New York State Education Department.
The day’s events included:
- Opening remarks by Nicholas M. Michelli, Ph.D., Presidential Professor at CUNY Graduate Center
- A statement on the state’s perspective and activities by Joseph P. Frey, Deputy Commissioner for Higher Education, New York State Education Department
- A panel discussion moderated by Jon Snyder, Ph.D., Dean of Education at Bank Street College, including the following leaders in teacher preparation:
- Noel S. Anderson, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Political Science, Brooklyn College, CUNY
- Jeanne Burns, Ph.D., Associate Commissioner, Teacher Education Initiatives, Louisiana Governor’s Office and Board of Regents
- Jennifer Robinson, Ed.D., Executive Director of the Center of Pedagogy, College of Education and Human Services, Montclair State University
- Robin Schamberg, 2001 New York State Teacher of the Year, Assistant Principal, Fox Lane High School, Bedford, New York
- Robert J. Tobias, Director, Center for Research on Teaching and Learning, New York University
- A summary of the morning’s discussions by James Hennessy, Ph.D., Dean of the Graduate School of Education, Fordham University
- Afternoon break-out discussions on the following topics:
- Creating Effective Partnerships between IHEs and LEAs to enrich the Cooperating Teacher Experience
- Redesign of Teacher Preparation Programs: The Need and the Challenge
- Achieving Equitable Distribution to Meet Teacher Shortages in High Need Schools
- Effective Utilization of Data to Inform Teacher Preparation, Induction, and Retention
- An interactive discussion of the recommendations of the break-out groups, conducted by Sabrina Laine, Ph.D., Director of the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality
- A seminar summary and wrap-up by Deborah Shanley, Ed.D., Dean of the School of Education, Brooklyn College
A summary of the day’s proceedings is available to 
Download.
NYCC Contributes to Report on Alternate Assessment
The New York Comprehensive Center, together with the New York State Education Department and the Center for Assessment, conducted a briefing for the U.S. Education Department in Washington, D.C. to present considerations for alternate state assessments based on modified achievement standards for students with disabilities. The report details strategies and policy recommendations for identifying an eligible student population, designing and developing modified standards and assessments, and incorporating these standards and assessments into an existing accountability system.
This federally funded report is the product of a collaborative effort between the NYCC, the New York State Education Department, the Center for Assessment, and a panel of leading experts on the cognition, education, and evaluation of low achieving students with disabilities. It is a response to 2007 No Child Left Behind regulations allowing the use of an Alternate Assessment based on Modified Achievement Standards (AA-MAS) for Adequate Yearly Progress reporting purposes. The report provides recommendations for state policymakers and stakeholders invested in providing appropriate instruction and support to students with disabilities.
To learn more and access the full report, visit NYCC's AA-MAS page.
NYCC Collaborates with NYC UFT Teacher Center
The New York Comprehensive Center was recently mentioned in The Communicator, a resource newsletter for the New York State Teacher Centers. The article discusses the collaboration between the United Federation of Teachers–Teacher Center (UFTTC) and the New York Comprehensive Center (NYCC) to meet the goals of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law and improve student outcomes.
The NYCC Director, Larry Hirsch was quoted as saying "The New York Comprehensive Center has found its partnership with the NYC UFT Teacher Center to be rewarding and effective because of the high professional standards that are held for all of its members. This positive collaboration reflects how mutual respect and the sharing of resources can be productive for all concerned."
The full article is available in 
The Communicator, Fall 2008
Adolescent Literacy
Center On Instruction (COI) Coffee Chats
Members of the Adolescent Literacy Team have participated in several Coffee Chats facilitated by the COI Reading Strand. Topics have included formative assessment, struggling readers, and English language learners. The Coffee Chats are webinars where the NYCC adolescent literacy team members are able to learn about current research documents, engage in conversations with the literacy leaders of other Comprehensive Centers, and think about ways of supporting NYSED’s literacy work.
To learn more, visit the NYCC Improving Literacy initiative page.
Comprehensive Assessments
The CAS team has just completed a series of 3 informational meetings at NYSED. These meetings have focused on: a) acquainting NYSED program staff with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) definition and attributes of formative assessment; b) Wiliam's and Black's research on the potential characteristics and benefits of classroom formative assessment; c) learning about ongoing work in other state departments of education to support formative assessment. The working group explored a possible definition of formative assessment for use within NYSED. The team also just completed the first academic year of work with Syracuse Instructional Support Teachers (ISTs), promoting and supporting formative assessment use in 4th and 5th grade mathematics classrooms. Work with the ISTs will continue through the summer to plan for academic year 2.
To learn more, visit the NYCC Comprehensive Assessments initiative page.
eLearning
New York State Internet Safety Initiative
The NYCC eLearning Team has been asked to review the existing Internet Safety section of the New York State Education Department website and provide feedback around the utility of the resource as it relates to statute. In addition, the eLearning team is gathering information on how other states have addressed the issues of internet safety and proper internet use in and out of the classroom.
Each state's internet safety approach will be reviewed for Acceptable Use Policy guidelines (AUP), resources that support state AUP mandates and examples of internet safety implementation. The eLearning team will focus on identifying state websites whose internet safety sections are high quality, clear and user friendly for policy makers, administrators, teachers, library/media specialists/technology coordinators, students and parents.
To learn more, visit the NYCC eLearning initiative page.
Institutions of Higher Education/Teacher Quality
The New York State Education Department's Office of K–16 Initiatives and Access Programs has been charged with creating a work group that will provide recommendations to the Board of Regents on strengthening the preparation and retention of urban teachers. The Institutions of Higher Education/Teacher Quality (IHE/TQ) team assists in the planning and organization of Regents Work Group meetings and in the distribution of current, pertinent research.
The IHE/TQ team has also assembled a set of IHE Work Groups composed of teacher preparation deans, program heads, and professors from the City University of New York and independent institutions of higher education in and around New York City. These work groups have prepared a brief with policy recommendations for submission to the Regents Work Group. The IHE Work Groups met to discuss their future direction in June. They again convened in early October.
To learn more, visit the NYCC Teacher Quality initiative page.
Mathematics
In conjunction with our partner, the United Federation of Teachers Teacher Center (UFTTC), the mathematics initiative continues to work on a new model for implementing academic intervention services (AIS) for students struggling in mathematics. Expert mathematics trainers continue to provide professional development to AIS teachers in a cohort of schools in the use of Singapore mathematics and other research-based strategies. This effective intervention has the potential to be replicated throughout New York State. Professional development models including regularly scheduled workshops, school based study groups and individual coaching will be documented for effectiveness and possible dissemination by the New York State Education Department to other school districts. The preliminary success of this initiative will have positive implications for building the capacity of NYSED to support school districts as they reform their AIS services in mathematics.
To learn more, visit the NYCC Mathematics initiative page.
Parent Involvement
The Parent Involvement team is participating in the Summer Parent Academy (SPA) in July sponsored by the NYDOE Office for Family Engagement and Advocacy. We are conducting workshops on Team Building and Sharpening Your Advocacy Skills. The final meeting of the NYSED Parent Advisory Committee convened on June 25, 2008.
To learn more, visit the NYCC Family Engagement initiative page.
Statewide System of Support
In collaboration with the EducationCounsel, consultants funded by the Gates Foundation in July completed and submitted a set of recommendations for a world-class statewide system of school support for New York. The report has been submitted to the Commissioner of Education and New York Board of Regents. This is part of a larger initiative by of the Board of Regents to improve educational leadership across the state, develop a cutting-edge service capacity within the Department, identify and implement best practices that improve schools, revise the system by which schools are held accountable, and design a comprehensive data system that will track the progress of individual students from pre-kindergarten through college.
The NYCC and EducationCounsel have been asked to propose a preliminary action plan for implementing their proposals, and have just submitted a memorandum on that topic, with a proposal to jointly assist in developing New York State Department of Education capacity to implement a comprehensive system of school support.
To learn more, visit the NYCC Statewide System of Support initiative page.
TQ Research and Policy Update cites the NYCC
The NYCC was cited in the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality's (NCCTQ) newsletter TQ Research and Policy Update in October 2006.
The regional comprehensive assistance centers often have relationships in their states and regions that can open doors to begin the necessary conversations about setting goals for teacher preparation programs to revise their curricula and develop K–16 collaborative relationships that target some of the schools and districts in the state with the highest need. The regional comprehensive assistance centers also have resources that can support bringing people together in K–16 partnerships with a focus on preparing highly-effective teachers for at-risk schools. The biggest hurdle is often the simple act of getting organizations with complementary missions into the same room to agree on a shared set of goals and outcomes. This neutral convener role can be a critical function in moving state policy and program conversations forward, and it is one that the regional comprehensive assistance centers are well positioned to play.
For example, the New York Comprehensive Center recently convened a symposium in which higher education faculty were joined by school district and state education agency representatives to hear Catherine Snow discuss Knowledge to Support the Teaching of Reading. In the afternoon, the higher education faculty participated in discussion groups about higher education syllabi and the use of scientifically based research.
TQ Research and Policy Update, October 2006
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